4 Comments:

I saw him on a panel last year and was surprised at the avuncular manner of a man who writes about such grim subjects. He's a nice guy, too. During our panel last week, he had a habit of giving detailed, illuminating answers, then saying, "I don't know if I've answered your question." But by God, he always answered them.

I've really got to get to Boucheron. I had planned on attending this year but decided to have a battle with cancer instead (sigh). I've really struggled with Scandinavian crime fiction, specifically Lene Kaaberbol; Agnete Friis and the seemingly Mecca of the genre, Larsson. Maybe it's the style, or maybe I just haven't tried hard enough, maybe I should start here with Laukkanen. You've never steered me wrong before.

I'm sorry to hear about your health problems, and I'll hope to see you in Long Beach, Raleigh, New Orleans, Toronto, or St. Petersburg.

Your comment has jolted me into thinking about changing the title of this post. Laukkanen's book is nothing like the grim, socially conscious Nordic stereotype. He's a lot likelier to remind you of Richard Stark or Elmore Leonard than of those people you mentioned (though I'm not speaking ill of former panelists. I've had Kaaberbøl and Friis as well at Larsson's translator on panels at previous Bouchercons.)

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This blog is a proud winner of the 2009 Spinetingler Award for special services to the industry and its blogkeeper a proud former guest on Wisconsin Public Radio's Here on Earth. In civilian life I'm a copy editor in Philadelphia. When not reading crime fiction, I like to read history. When doing neither, I like to travel. When doing none of the above, I like listening to music or playing it, the latter rarely and badly.
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